Never Go Home Again
by xXBalorBabeXx
Summary: She had come home after a bad day... she didn't expect to see someone she didn't know in the living room. (Co-written with werewolf-queen-022)
1. The Girl In The Towel

Amanda got out of the car with Dakota's help.

"Thanks for dropping me off, Kota." Amanda responded, having twisted her right ankle and scraped her right knee while out running with Luke.

"No problem. Go put some ice on it." Dakota replied before she left, 25 year old Amanda heading to the front door.

The lock clicked to signal that it was unlocked, Rue turning startled as Amanda half walked half limped in and closed the door behind her.

"Hey, Finn, I-" Amanda responded before she looked up and she and Rue yelled out in shock.

Finn turned the shower off and quickly dried off before he exited it, putting on a pair of boxers and jeans and heading downstairs to see Rue covering up with a robe and Amanda with her eyes closed.

"Knock before entering!" Rue yelled.

"I have a key, I live here… sorry I startled you." Amanda responded as Finn walked over to her and helped her sit down after noticing her bandaged knee and swollen ankle.

"Darlin', what happened?" Finn asked as Rue headed upstairs and got dressed.

"I lost my balance in the park when a jogger crashed into me… it wasn't purposeful but he didn't apologise." Amanda answered, opening her eyes as Rue returned… and noticed the injuries.

"Devitt forgot to tell me about you." Rue said.

"And sorry I forgot to tell you but… Rue, this is Mandy." Finn responded before Rue and Amanda shook hands.

"How old are you?" Rue asked.

"25." Amanda answered, Rue turning to Finn.

"Don't judge me." Finn responded.

"Hey, you never judged me at all so why should I judge you? She's just youthful looking." Rue said.

"I don't look my age, I know that." Amanda replied.

"Yeah you do look quite young. What's your secret?" Rue said.

"Charcoal makeup cleanser and peach toned concealer to hide the dark circles. So what happened?" Amanda responded.

"My contract ran out in New Japan." Rue explained.

"And they won't sign you to a new one? I thought that company has a more relaxed schedule than WWE." Amanda replied.

"Came back here by choice. I thought I could make peace with my parents and sister, it backfired on a major level. Found out while I was in Japan, they sold everything of mine. I've had no place to go, luckily for me I can always rely on good old Devitt here." Rue explained.

"He's a good man." Amanda responded as Finn lightly propped Amanda's swollen ankle up after carefully pulling off the shoe and sock and Rue went to go get an ice pack.

She returned to the living room, placing it on Amanda's ankle… and saw Amanda cringe slightly as the ice was a sudden shock to her sensitive skin and nerves, Finn lightly rubbing Amanda's right wrist.

"Did this guy look familiar, the guy who caused you to call?" Rue asked.

"No. But he was older, maybe mid 50s, dark hair with a bit of grey in it and blue eyes… bit of a jerk who seems to have a real screwed up opinion on women. Some of his remarks made me think that his mother never washed his mouth out with soap… and then Luke busted the prick's jaw." Amanda answered, Finn seeing that she was holding something back… and Finn lightly squeezing Amanda's right hand.

"It's okay, lass, you can tell us." Finn responded encouragingly.

"He said… _"If you're actually screwing that blue eyed Irishman, you're being kept in the dark about his past and him thinking that encouraging people's sexuality is helping them when it's not! Personally, you're too delicate looking to be in that ring!"_. So I kicked his ass… Luke had to pull me back before he busted the prick's jaw." Amanda explained.

"So this guy who assaulted you is basically a jackass and homophobic? Typical." Rue said, rolling her eyes.

"Too many of them, that's why I lost it." Amanda responded as Finn hugged her.

"People like them are exactly why I never told anyone in Japan." Rue said, Amanda's eyes widening a bit. "What? Surprised that I'm lesbian?"

"No, not that… I just thought people were more accepting nowadays." Amanda explained.

"Well it's hard to look at it in that way when your sister calls you a fake lesbian and your parents tell you to pack your things up and get the hell out of their house." Rue replied.

"They're the fucked up ones then." Amanda responded.

"But in their perfect little world I'm the fucked up one because I prefer girls over guys." Rue said but sniffing a little and wiping her eyes. "Sorry."

"Don't be, you have every right to be upset." Amanda responded as she brushed her own tears away.

"It's just been really hard for me to be accepting who I am. I spend ages after I got kicked out of home angry at myself and Devitt was the first person I met who accepted me for who I was." Rue said.

"He's a sweet man… helped me feel better after one of my former friends injured my back last year." Amanda responded.

"Yeah the world needs more people like him." Rue replied.

It was after Amanda had showered off and changed that she got a text from Ashley.

' _Seth said that you still won't talk to him.'_

' _Got nothing to say to him after he punched me in the face.'_ Amanda responded, glancing at her bruised right eye before she took a picture of it and sent it to Ashley.

But Ashley's response showed that she didn't believe Amanda.

' _Why do you hate him so much?! Don't make me choose between you two.'_

Amanda yelled out in rage and threw her phone… before she felt Finn's arms around her waist and his head on her right shoulder.

"Don't make her choose, that's how she responded to me showing her a picture of what he did… why won't she see how he treats us?" Amanda responded quietly, Finn nuzzling his face into hers to calm her down. "I know what you're thinking, she's reminding you of Rue's sister… isn't she?"

"A bit but it's really hard to judge Rue's sister since I've never met her and all I know about her is the fact she was a bitch when Rue came out." Finn explained.

"What did she expect, for Rue to go on living a lie? It never works." Amanda responded as Finn saw the scar under her right shoulder blade… the one he knew was caused by Randy the day a young Amanda stood up to Randy and said she was no longer his to hurt in any way.

And he knew that she had also meant herself when she was younger.

"Speaking of Rue, we should go check on her." Finn said.

The two headed towards the stairs… but stopped when they saw Rue asleep in the guest room.

"I don't blame her one bit… I'd be exhausted too." Amanda whispered, Finn picking up some paper off the floor.

"Yeah, making a new persona has got her tired." Finn said.

He set the paper down and picked Amanda up, taking her back to the room.


	2. A Place To Feel Safe

_**10/12/08…**_

" _Party Wolf!" TJ yelled before howling at the top of his lungs._

" _Yeah…" Amanda responded, the 18 year old getting that feeling as she sipped her whiskey._

" _Hey try that punch it's so good." TJ slurred._

" _No. I'm gonna go check on the birthday girl." Amanda replied before she set the glass down, headed upstairs and pushed a door open._

 _And her eyes widened at seeing Phil Brooks on top of Ashley… and Amanda grabbing a bat and storming over._

 _Phil yelled out as he felt the impact of the bat on his head, Ashley covering herself up._

" _Mandy what the fuck?!" Ashley exclaimed._

" _Ash, he's a grown ass man and you're barely 21!" Amanda yelled as Phil pulled his boxers on. "So much for Mr Straight Edge, huh?!" She responded._

" _So who cares?" Ashley asked._

" _Who cares?! We're supposedly little sisters to him, he promised he'd never take advantage of us!" Amanda yelled as Ashley got up and got dressed._

" _You need to leave!" Ashley replied._

" _No, he does!" Amanda shouted._

" _Oh just fuck off Mandy! My bday my rules!" Ashley yelled, Amanda noticed a tiny bit of blood on the sheets._

" _She at least waited til her twenties." Phil replied._

" _Yeah! So go, you little whore, no one wants you around anyway!" Ashley screamed._

 _Amanda dropped the bat on Ashley's right foot, flipped both of them off and stormed out, ignoring Maria calling after her and following her… when she walked outside, TJ noticed the tears and stopped her._

" _Aw what happened little lady?" TJ asked._

" _Ashley doesn't want me around… so I'm outta here." Amanda responded after readjusting her coat over her silver mini sequin dress before she left._

 _The Chicago area was cold as Amanda walked around… but she didn't care._

 _Ashley would calm down at some point but Amanda didn't want to see her or Phil for a while…_

 **Present time** _ **, 9/30/15…**_

Rue woke up and decided to check on Amanda and Finn… and found them curled up on Finn's king sized bed.

"Aw they're too cute to be just friends." Rue said before leaving them alone.

She headed downstairs to see what she could order for dinner and saw a rental car outside before she saw Ashley.

"Uh excuse me but who are you?" Rue asked.

"Friend of the woman that lives here." Ashley replied.

"5'1", shoulder length chestnut brown hair, hazel eyes and one of them bruised?" Rue asked.

"Her right eye?" Ashley replied.

"Yeah, someone punched her pretty damn hard. Someone who Finn told me gets angry a lot and tries to pull Mandy away from him." Rue responded.

"Who are you exactly?" Ashley asked.

"I'm Rue, I'm a friend of Finn's." Rue said.

"That explains it." Ashley responded.

"She's been in your life since you two were kids… protected each other, helped each other through hell even when the other didn't want it. Maybe it's best if Mandy has a little distance from Seth. To clear both their heads." Rue explained.

"Really?" Ashley asked.

"Any man who punches a woman, who resorts to that needs to back off. I saw the scar under Mandy's shoulder blade, the scars near her left eye… you protected her from one violent man. Hearing this from someone who wasn't there… is it helping clear your mind a bit?" Rue responded.

Ashley turned after hearing footsteps… but her mouth fell open in shock when she saw Amanda's bruised eye, bruised ankle and scratched up knee.

"Ah so now your little hazel eyes have opened." Rue said to Ashley.

"What happened?!" Ashley asked.

"Seth went crazy on Monday night, then a jogger went crazy at me earlier today." Amanda explained, her undamaged phone in her hand as Finn helped her sit down.

Ashley took a picture of the bruised eye and sent it to Seth with the text _'You realise that what you did to her was assault, right?!'_.

Seth hadn't responded… and that had Ashley worried.

"When he doesn't answer, that means he's either drunk or is avoiding the truth." Amanda replied.

"Or he's in bed with another woman." Finn muttered, Ashley glaring at him and Rue turning startled.

"He's a cheater?!" Rue asked.

"He cheated on his ex fiancee for months and then slept around behind his mistress's back." Amanda explained, Ashley turning to her. "What? I tried telling you this last time but you wouldn't listen." She responded.

"And why should I? People change, Mandy. That includes you throwing Seth aside when Finn showed up, you started spreading your legs for Finn and it didn't take long, did it, you little tramp?!" Ashley replied, shouting the last part.

And that was what set Amanda off… the brunette punched Ashley right in the nose and tackled her as the fight escalated and Finn pulling Amanda back as Rue pulled Ashley away.

"Calm down, both of you!" Rue responded.

"Rue's right, now's not the time to fight!" Finn replied as he tightened his grip on Amanda.

"I hate you, Amanda!" Ashley yelled as she tried to get free.

"Fine! If that's how you truly feel, then go! I tried telling you the truth but you just don't want to listen to me, you want to listen to some guy you've only been with for not even a month. So just fucking go! I hope he's truly worth it!" Amanda shouted before Ashley left, slamming the door.

Finn loosened his grip to a more relaxed one around Amanda's waist, kissing her on her right shoulder before resting his head on it.

"I'm sorry, guys, I really thought she'd listen." Rue responded.

"I'm the one who went off at the little bitch. I want to think that she's on drugs again but Ashley Louise Hardy is just a depraved person who lost her morality a long time ago. Seth can have her and they can both stay out of mine and Finn's lives… that works just fine." Amanda replied before Finn turned her to him and held her closer to him.

Amanda wrapped her arms around him as her tears fell and Finn kissed the side of her head as he rubbed his right hand up and down her back as she buried her face into his torso… and Rue had the feeling that Amanda had been hurt one too many times in her life.

Finn picked Amanda up and took her upstairs once he and Rue realised that Amanda had cried herself out, Finn tucking Amanda into the bed before he looked to Rue.

"Now that she's not keeping all that pain and anger trapped, she'll feel better." Finn replied quietly.

"Maybe they meant every word, maybe they didn't… but once what's said or screamed is out, there's no putting it back." Rue responded as Finn glanced back at Amanda and lightly brushed her hair back.

Rue went to go see what she could find for the three of them to eat as Finn stretched out next to Amanda and lightly encircled his arms around her, Amanda resting her head on his right shoulder.

' _They can say and do all the hurtful things they want but I'll always protect you.'_ Finn thought as he lightly kissed Amanda on the top of her head.

He didn't like how Ashley and Seth had been treating Amanda… and from what he could tell, Ashley had a lot of buried anger and hatred directed at Amanda.


	3. No Fixing It?

_**10/8/10…**_

" _Aw man we're so fucking stoned right now." Ashley said as TJ passed the bong to her._

" _Your turn." TJ replied, Ashley taking a large hit of the marijuana._

" _Hey, don't hog it!" Jeff replied._

" _Alright big bro let's see what you are made of." Ashley said, before passing it to him._

 _It was as Jeff was about to take a hit that the door opened abruptly and they saw her._

" _Mandy!" Jeff replied in a startled manner, setting the bong aside as Amanda was looking at the trio._

" _Have you all lost whatever sense you had?!" The 20 year old responded._

" _What? We're just having a good time." TJ said._

" _They're supposed to be getting clean!" Amanda said to him before she turned to the Hardy siblings. "I don't believe this… you two lied right to my face about going into rehab!"_

" _Rehab? We don't need to go there." Ashley said._

" _Yep we've got it under control." Jeff said._

" _Oh you do, huh? Well Buba and Sis, don't expect me to sit back and watch!" Amanda replied through gritted teeth before she headed out of the hotel villa and into the hallway, TJ following after her._

" _Aw Mandy, come back and have a hit. It will really relax you." TJ said._

" _I don't do drugs, now let go!" Amanda yelled, managing to pull her right wrist away but TJ grabbed it again._

" _Come on it will be fun. Ashley and Jeff are having a great time." TJ said._

" _I said no!" Amanda shouted, slamming her right knee into TJ's ribcage and then his face before she picked him up and bodyslammed him into the wall. "Putting your hands on me was a mistake, pal!" She hissed after dropping him and leaving._

" _Aw damn she hits pretty hard." TJ said before going and stumbling after her._

 _The bitter October wind hit Amanda as she walked down the boardwalk in Daytona Beach… the temps were already in the 40s at night and Amanda buttoned her coat tighter to her to keep warm._

 _She felt stupid for believing them when they said they were sober… and decided to never help them again…_

 **Present time** _ **, 9/30/15…**_

Amanda stirred around 6 as she and Finn noticed the scents of pepperoni and sausage pizza, spinach alfredo pizza and breadsticks.

"I guess Rue must've ordered dinner." Finn responded.

"It's sweet but she didn't have to go out of her way like that." Amanda replied as they stood up.

"It's okay, Darlin', we can cook something for her tomorrow night." Finn responded as they headed downstairs, his right arm around her back as she was still limping.

"There you sleepy heads are." Rue responded before the three got their food and sat down… and Rue carefully examined Amanda's right eye. "You poor thing, no man should ever hit a woman." She replied.

"I ain't going anywhere near Seth again. I called Hunter when the day started off, told him to take me out of the storyline involving Seth and Kane." Amanda explained.

"Has Hunter thought about putting you all on the Dr. Phil show?" Rue questioned.

"I don't think Dr. Phil could handle it." Finn responded.

"Probably not." Rue replied.

But something deeper was nagging at her.

 _ **10/5/15, WWE Raw…**_

In her ring outfit for her match against Sasha, Amanda had finished tying her boots, adjusted her cropped and low cut crisscrossed halter style ring top and putting her kick pads on when Ashley stormed in.

"Why'd you have yourself pulled from the storyline?!" Ashley demanded.

"Because I'm not gonna work closely with someone who's trying to kill me! You do this aside every time some guy comes along and pays attention to you, you just shove me aside. You've made it clear you don't want me around so I'm not going to feel guilty for protecting myself from Seth's rage! Why should I when he treats me like Kyle treated you?!" Amanda responded before she put Finn's leather jacket on over her black and white ring outfit.

"You seriously are trying to compare Seth to Kyle?! You seriously need to get a grip on yourself!" Ashley said.

"I need to get a grip?! Seth has dislocated my right shoulder twice and broke my tailbone and shoulder blades, he's left me bleeding and bruised and Finn, Bryan, Luke, Kota and even your own brothers and father can verify that! I'm no one's punching bag, on camera or off, you stubborn, disillusioned little bitch!" Amanda responded angrily.

"I'm the stubborn, disillusioned little bitch?! Go and look in the mirror if you want to see one!" Ashley yelled.

"I'm being honest here, your boyfriend is an overly controlling, possessive bastard!" Amanda shouted, grabbing Ashley's right wrist when she tried to punch her and pinning her right arm behind her before locking in the Coquina Clutch as footsteps were heard and Finn and Seth pulled them apart.

"You know what, Amanda?! I now regret getting your initials tattooed on my left wrist now!" Ashley yelled.

"What you should regret is getting involved with that bastard who fucked your mind up so badly that you can't tell a good man apart from an asshole!" Amanda shouted.

"Get her out of here, now!" Finn responded, Seth dragging Ashley away and Finn turning Amanda to him when he saw a bite on her right hand.

"Maybe brutal honesty wasn't the way to go." Amanda replied as Finn cleaned the wound and bandaged it.

"I'll be honest with ya, Darlin', she needs help with something else. The way she looks at me with rage, she's holding something back." Finn responded, carefully pulling her into his arms and the two embracing each other.

In the hotel room later as Finn had guided a drunken Rue to her own room, Amanda heard a noise and was immediately grabbed from behind.

Amanda fought back as she was thrown to the bed after being punched, fighting against him as she heard "You don't know anything about your so called sister-"... and she found herself being dropped.

Finn had grabbed the masked attacker, punching him and then bashing his head against the wall… before dragging him to the balcony of the room and holding him over it as the attacker screamed.

"Shut the fuck up! You don't like that, huh?! You don't like being threatened?! Well I don't like what I saw and that was you violently assaulting an innocent woman!" Finn responded angrily, breaking the attacker's left leg and then throwing him out of the room before kicking the door shut.

Amanda looked up as Finn approached her, Finn picking her up into his arms and calling 911 as he held her close to him.

Outside as Amanda was in the ambulance and Finn was right by her side, they saw the assailant being cuffed while on a gurney… and without his mask.

And Finn knew from the pure rage in Amanda's eyes that it was Kyle.


End file.
